Olivia Cooke Says One Side of the ‘House of the Dragon’ Fandom Pushed Her Offline

Few corners of the internet are as passionate, or as loud, as the one built around ‘Game of Thrones’ and its spinoffs. When ‘House of the Dragon’ arrived, that devotion came with it, and the show’s cast ended up in the middle of the conversation. The second season reached 8.9 million viewers across platforms in its US finale, according to Warner Bros. Discovery.

Few people have felt that spotlight more than Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower. Before the HBO series, she starred in ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,’ ‘Ready Player One,’ ‘Vanity Fair,’ ‘Sound of Metal,’ and ‘Pixie.’ Her career had plenty of range, but Alicent put her at the center of one of television’s most heavily scrutinized fandoms.

That scrutiny has not always been kind, and Cooke has said so more than once. She previously said that some ‘House of the Dragon’ fans have been “f—ing horrible” to her and her castmates. Those earlier comments set the stage for what she has now shared in her latest interview.

In a new profile, Cooke told GQ, in an interview published Monday, that the vocal fanbase around the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel is “steeped in misogyny” and “racism.” She also argued that some fan interpretations take on a life of their own. In her words, they “catch fire” and become something that “bears no resemblance to what was shown on the screen at the time.”

The remarks came with an explanation of why she stepped back from social media. She tries to give the online discourse as little “mental real estate” as possible, but the backlash was one factor in her decision to deactivate her accounts during her break. Winter Is Coming noted that the ‘GQ’ profile covers the “ugliness” of the fandom and her choice to log off.

The break itself was not a secret. Reports earlier this year said the Alicent Hightower actor stepped back from social media after calling out “horrible” fan harassment. Her Instagram account was deactivated, and the move was linked to the sustained negativity she and her colleagues have faced.

Online abuse is not the only thing that drove her offline. Speaking to The Guardian, Cooke said she deactivated Instagram after becoming overwhelmed by “looksmaxxers,” meaning social media users obsessed with physical transformations and appearance. She added that this culture has trickled into the entertainment industry as well.

Her relationship with online feedback was complicated long before this. Cooke has said she was “naive” to read fan feedback about her performance, describing reading reviews and media attention on social media as “self-flagellating.” The newest comments suggest she has found a healthier way to handle it.

What makes her comments land is that she is not dismissing the fandom as a whole. She is singling out the toxic strain that she says has overshadowed the show itself, and she is doing it while still working on the series. For a cast that has spent years answering for what fans say online, that kind of candor stands out.

The conversation also fits a broader pattern around big franchises. When a show becomes a cultural lightning rod, actors often end up absorbing the loudest and angriest voices, whether they asked for it or not. Cooke’s decision to log off, and to talk openly about why, adds to that ongoing debate.

For viewers who simply love the story of Alicent and the Targaryens, her message is a reminder that the people behind the characters are reading too. Whether the more hostile corners of the fandom take it to heart remains to be seen. Cooke, for her part, appears to have made her peace with keeping the noise at arm’s length.